This present invention relates in general to wireline communication links, and in particular to timing adjustment of communication signals between multiple subscriber units communicated over a public switch telephone network with a communications network including a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable distribution network.
Several cable telephony systems have been proposed for combining telephony, video, and data information over a cable distribution network taking advantage of the existing high bandwidth capabilities of cable television (CATV) operators which have an existing HFC distribution network to subscriber premises that could carry such diverse services. In a wireline communication system, a single trunk line will service many different individual users. For instance, a telephony system will often have various trunk lines fanning out from a main control/switching station, and each of these will run from a head-end (control station and switching network) to a service area node. Many different users will be fed to the node and then networked onto the trunk line.
Trunk lines are typically fiber optic cables which are capable of carrying a tremendous number of calls which carry signals at speeds much greater than conventional metal lines. Telephony cable lines, whether optic or metal, operate in pairs such that a trunk line will consist of a downstream cable and an upstream cable forming signal line loops for the telephony signal streams to follow. Telephony employing cable modem technology combines telephony, video, and data signals over a cable distribution infrastructure. Generally the up and downstream cables are installed along the same route and have the same length, although not necessarily installed in the same trench or on the same utility line. However, these main up and downstream lines generally parallel each other.
A major goal of telephony systems is to supply dependable use to users so that the system may be accessed even during emergencies. To be reliable, the system must have a backup transport with an alternate route to ensure that communications continue even if one of the paths is destroyed. When a line goes down, a fault is registered within the system indicating that the signal stream cannot be routed through the main signal line loop. A line can go down for many reasons including natural forces causing a break in the line, construction digging into the area where a line is laid and breaking the line, maintenance on the line by the operator, and any other number of occurrences. Accordingly, operators of telephony systems install redundant trunk lines so that the telephony signal streams may be routed through the redundant trunk lines to form an alternate signal line loop. Generally there will be a designated downstream redundant line and a designated upstream redundant line. If the main, or signal line loop downstream line is broken or dysfunctional, the head-end will route the signal stream through the redundant downstream line while using the upstream line of the main, or signal line loop. Similarly, the redundant upstream line may be used in a similar manner. In fact, any combination of the four lines may be used by the head-end.
Although any combination of the four lines may be used, it should be noted that the two main lines (down and upstream) of the signal line loop usually follow the shortest path from the head-end to the service node. For reliability reasons, the redundant lines must follow a different path, often making broad detours resulting in much longer lines than the signal loop lines. Therefore, if a line of the signal line loop is near a construction site, for instance, and capable of being damaged by digging at the site, the redundant line will not be affected since its routing is away from the same area.
The longer length of the redundant line naturally delays the time that the signal stream will take to go from the head-end to the service node and back. This presents a problem with time based signaling protocols such as time division multiple access (TDMA) protocols. Delaying the time a signal stream takes to go to the service node and back beyond the delay expected as the signal follows the main signal line loop alters the anticipated position of the signal stream and control information within the stream once the signal stream returns to the head-end. Communication links are lost and an adjustment must take place to align the signal stream from the service node to the head-end to a position in the protocol that the head-end will be expecting the signal stream to be in.
Various problems associated with HFC distribution systems are attendant with the timing adjustment for alternate routing associated with multiple delay paths in a redundant communications system. For instance, it would be desirable to eliminate the need for measurement of the four delay paths which result in a disruption in the system when a fiber switch occurs, or through the introduction of human error associated with the delay measurement and adjustment. Automatic time alignment measurement to provide a time alignment window automatically centered to accommodate the nearest and farthest subscriber units may provide a better margin of error when parametric variations occur through cable stretching and temperature variations. It would be further desirable to provide the time alignment window as being adjustable to provide the correct value from any subscriber unit which sends shortened uplink bursts (SUBs). The provision of the time alignment window, once done after a detection, may facilitate a desirable rate for establishing communications, so as to avoid numerous tries which may result in lost calls during high traffic conditions. To this end, it would be further desirable to be able to report when a subscriber unit has been placed on the cable network which goes past the capability of the system, so as to automatically identify the subscriber unit outside of the time alignment window, and avoid a disruption in service to the other subscriber units on the system.
Accordingly, a method is needed in a telephony system having redundant signal lines to automatically detect when a fault in a signal line loop has occurred, and then automatically compensate for any delays caused by routing the signal stream through the redundant signal line.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide enhanced automatic timing adjustments for alternate routing of the HFC cable distribution network for telephony between multiple subscriber units on a cable distribution network over a public switch telephone network on a communications network backbone.